Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place in mortal danger. Veronica Roth's young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Hey everyone, I wanted to do an update post about our first Ali's Book Club live Chat. It was scheduled for tomorrow, but I am moving that date to June 1st at 8 PM EST! We will be having a live discussion about this past month's book, Partials by Dan Wells, we will also be discussion next months book so if you want to join in feel free to do so.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers

"Lori Whittman, you are under arrest for violation of the Moral Statutes, Section 2, Article 5, Part A revised, pertaining to children conceived out of wedlock."
"Arrest?" My mom's voice hitched. "What do you mean?"

Article 5 ch 1 pages 17 and 18

So that's a little tease into what I'm reading right now. What are you reading right now? Hook me up with a little teaser below or link me to your Teaser Tuesday post!!

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and I hope you all have a great week. As always Happy Reading!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Hey everyone, I just wanted to get on here and say Happy Memorial Day to you all! I hope you all have a great weekend and stay safe. Now on to some blogging business. I will not be posting this weekend or Monday. I am taking a 3 day break. First off its Memorial day weekend and I have big plans and wont be near my computer! Secondly I am going to be out of town on Monday, my nephew is being born and I am going to go see him! YAY!

So make sure you come back around on Tuesday and there will be new posts up I promise!!

“Though we were four years younger than Ariya, we’d watched teenagers before at an older cousin’s house. They talked on the phone, they texted their boyfriends, they watched movies on DVDs. Sometimes, they tidied up the house by wiping the table with a damp sponge after feeding us, removing the crumbs and ring spots from the bottom of our glasses. But we’d never seen any of them work like Ariya did.”

Twin sisters. Stepdaughters. Neighbours. In this short fiction, the lives of the twins are forever changed when their mother remarries and they move next door to a family unlike their own. Could their lives have been different with a flip of a coin?

It's time to get to know this great author a little more. I want to thank Jenelle Pierre for being with us today and for doing this interview!!! So lets see what she has to say...

Can you tell us something interesting about your writing process?

I prefer to write longhand in a notebook first.I think it makes the writing process easier for me because I can scratch out sentences and pause when needed to think about the clarity of what I’m writing.

Is there anything you’re working on now?

I’m working on a short story collection called “Love’s Onlookers.” Someone Else, Somewhere Else is a part of this collection.

It's time to learn a bit about this great book and about its amazing and talented author. Below you will find the books synopsis and the authors bio! Enjoy!!

“Though we were four years younger than Ariya, we’d watched teenagers before at an older cousin’s house. They talked on the phone, they texted their boyfriends, they watched movies on DVDs. Sometimes, they tidied up the house by wiping the table with a damp sponge after feeding us, removing the crumbs and ring spots from the bottom of our glasses. But we’d never seen any of them work like Ariya did.”

Twin sisters. Stepdaughters. Neighbours. In this short fiction, the lives of the twins are forever changed when their mother remarries and they move next door to a family unlike their own. Could their lives have been different with a flip of a coin?

Author's Bio

Jenelle grew up in Maryland. A graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park and the MA in Writing Program at Johns Hopkins University, she writes young adult fiction and contemporary short stories. She enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and traveling. Find out more about Jenelle's next book on her website:

Today I have a great blog tour for you for a great short story but Janelle Pierre. So today I have a amazing interview with the talented author, a review of the story and a giveaway as well. So I hope you all will stick around and check all of these posts out today!!

With every fiber of my being, I yearned to be normal. To glide through my days at Iverson without incident. But I’d have to face the fact that my life was about to unfold in a very, very different way than I’d ever envisioned. Normal would become forever out of reach.”

Lora Jones has always known that she’s different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora’s been keeping a heartful of secrets: She hears songs that no one else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she’s far more than what she seems.

England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England’s southern coast. Iverson’s eerie, gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny.

Jesse is the school’s groundskeeper—a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she’s only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves.

It is time for another add to my bookshelf! I have a great new book and I am dying to read it.

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

WHERE I HEARD ABOUT THIS BOOK...

I heard about Sweet Evil first from a friend of mine that saw the book on Amazon, I rushed over there and looked it up and the cover caught my eyes and I had to read what it was about. I immediately added it to my wish list!!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A Final Lesson Learned on the Importance of World Building By Stephen Zimmer

Exploring new worlds, encountering exotic creatures, and journeying across many diverse lands have always been at the center of what draws me towards the various speculative fiction genres, as a writer and reader. For me, the best authors have made things I have never encountered before in this world live and breathe. From Middle Earth to Narnia, to Westeros and the lands of the Hyborian Age, I have adventured alongside several great authors into places that held a vivid, organic reality.

As I travel down the author road, I have sought to make the realms I see in my imagination come to life for my readers in a similar way. The art of world building rests at the core of this effort. It is a very encompassing task, one that demands considerations of many different levels and areas.

From the geography of a land, to its history, populations, religious beliefs, flora and fauna, and much more, the craft of world building brings depth and reality to a story. It is what surrounds the characters, and provides the environments in which the plots germinate and mature to harvest.

The works that eventually became the Fires in Eden Series and the Rising Dawn Saga began near the mid 1990’s. I had two big stories that were burning to get out, one set in a medieval-type world, and the other set in a blend of the modern world and supernatural realms. Over the next few years I worked on what became the initial manuscripts for the first books in each series.

When I was finished, I had a few individuals read them for me, to give me feedback, but it turned out that I was my own hardest critic. The basic plotlines were there, and the characters were largely there, but there was just something missing from the equation. I could not entirely suspend my disbelief, in the way that I immersed into worlds like those found in the works of Robert E. Howard or Glen Cook.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Make sure you check out the show, there is a chat room and you can also call in and talk directly to Sherri and ask all the questions you've been dying to ask! After the show I will be posting the widget on here for you to be able to listen if you happen to miss the show!

Below you will find the authors bio and pic, so you can get to know her a bit if you don't already!

UPDATE!!!

The show was amazing! I loved chatting with Sherri and getting to know all about her amazing books. IF you didn't get to listen in check it out below.

Clock Rewinders on a Book Binge is where Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Tara @ 25 Hour Books shamelessly plug each other, share the fantastic posts, giveaways, or whatever else they've found and loved by other awesome bloggers (or authors!) during the week, and talk about the books they plan on reading in the coming week. So with permission I am going to be doing the same from now on!

Announcement

I'm so excited about this post. I am going to be posting Clock Rewinders on a Book Benge every week on Mondays! I think this post that both Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Tara @24 Hour Books do is a amazing way to not only show what each blogger has done themselves but what other bloggers have posted this week! I think its important for all of us to support one another.

So with all that being said, this post will be where I showcase some of my favorite bloggers and their posts. Plus it will showcase what I've posted here on Ali's Bookshelf this past week and this weeks upcoming plan as well. Later on today, I will post what I'm reading today and this week as well!!!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Hello and welcome to Showcase Sunday. Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and another blogger that I will not name on my blog! The aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.

I think its time to showcase what I got in the past few weeks! Check out the vid below!!!

Great books, bloggers, and recipes meet in this second volume of a fresh and unique cookbook that helps you experience books, not just read them. This year's volume features even more tasty reads, recipes and book bloggers.

Books were selected from the author’s book review blog and paired with delectable recipes like “Caramel Crack” from Shatter Me, by Tahereh Mafi, "Everliving Soup" from Brodi Ashton's Everneath, and "Jagged Ham" from Elana Johnson's Possession.
Mouthwatering photos complement every recipe.

The 2012 Book Blogger’s Cookbook includes a foreword by David Farland, award winning, New York Times Bestselling author, and showcases more than one hundred reviews with links to book review blogs and author websites.

Whether you're a food lover, an avid reader or a book blogger, there’s something for you in The 2011 Book Blogger’s Cookbook.

What Reviewers Are Saying:

"The Book Blogger's Cookbook has the best combination of two of my favorite things: food and books. Overall, it's sort of a dream book for readers who love cooking."
-Elani at La Femme Readers book reviews

"The 2011 Book Blogger's Cookbook is a beautiful blend of a cookbook about books. It's worth reading straight through if only to find new books to add to your "to-read" shelf."
-Lisa Mangum, author of the award winning The Hourglass Door series.

"The 2011 Book Blogger's Cookbook is more than a mere cookbook. It contains review bits of bloggers stating what they loved about the featured books. The blogger testaments make you want to read the novels and the photos make your mouth water. Perfect combination!"
-Stella from Ex Libris book reviews

Today I have a great author with us to talk about World Building. D.A. Adams, created an amazing world for his book series, The Brotherhood of Dwarves so I figured he would be a great author to chat about World building.

On World Building with D.A. Adams

Please, allow me to preface everything I’m about to say with this disclaimer: I don’t consider myself an expert or an authority on world building, so take all of my advice with a grain of salt. That said, I do believe there are some paramount fundamentals for creating a new space that all writers should adhere to. Most importantly, all writers, regardless of genre or style must partake in some form of world building because all fiction involves inventing an alternate reality in which their story takes place. Even if the story is set in the “real world,” any attempt at capturing the essence of our reality will fall short because our world is simply too large, too complex, and too dynamic ever to be rendered flawlessly in any medium. The best any writer can hope to achieve is creating a reality in their story that the audience will accept and believe.

Sidney Davenport is known as Wildchild to her Guardian mentor, Greystone. She rebels against rules. Wildchild is gifted in the paranormal, but carefully conceals her powers from the world. Even in the crises that threaten her life, she refuses to use her powers of telepathy, telekinesis, space/time travel. If her enemies discovered the truth of who she is, her Guardian people would be destroyed. She calls upon her spirit guides, Seamus and Celeste, to guide her through a mine field of the insane - Madame and Captain Butchart.

Sidney leaves her home on Hawk's Island to help the underground stop two people who are about to cause worldwide madness. Unskilled in esponage, she is arrested and sentanced to death. But, God help Sidney, she can't deny her attraction to the man who has orders to perform her execution - the tall, dark eyed Captain Waterhouse. He's meticulous, disciplined and lives by the strict rules expected of an officer of the American navy.

Captain Waterhouse is about to scrap his higher morals to bust out of his hell. When a female prisoner is delivered to his ship, he has no idea she is capable of turning his disciplined life into a storm of unimaginable experiences. His prisoner's enemies, he discovers, are also the ones who hold his life in the palm of their hands.

Through stunning imagery, an intricate and adventurous plot, and a strong cast of characters, Feather Stone gives readers a fast paced story woven with murder and magic.

Review:

I was so excited when I got this book for the tour. I had been wanting to read it for a while and dove right in when it came in the mail. When I say dove right in, I mean that literally, this book draws you in and doesn't let go till you've read the very last word.

The characters are amazing and well developed and the plot, wow lets just say it is jam packed full of emotion. One minute I was laughing, one minute I was so mad, then I'd be crying my eyes out reading it. I love it when an author can elicit that much emotion out of me when I'm reading. It shows they did their jobs correct and connected me to their story and their characters. Feather Stone did just that in The Guardian's Wildchild.

I loved the love story in this story. The characters were amazing together, even though one was very tormented and one was really sweet, they both equaled each other out. It's a perfect fit. I wished through the whole book and story for their happy ever after and that pulled me into this story just as much as the mystery. I loved the twists and turns of this book as well

All in all The Guardian's Wildchild is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone that likes Paranormal romance!

I'm so excited to tell you all about this amazing book, but first I have a guest post from this very talented author.

What would you like your readers to take away from your book?

Reading a book should be a journey of anticipation and discovery.The story needs to take you to a place you’ve never been.It needs to blur the edges of your responsibilities and worries.It needs to be a salve to your life’s wounds.It should tickle your imagination and flex your own story telling gifts that every soul possesses. The characters should be unforgettable.

The Guardian’s Wildchild is such a story.Like a carefully crafted campfire, it catches fire gradually, building to an unexpected blaze.In the background are the benevolent Guardians. Through their visions you will finally know the human race was powerful as a god.

Today is a great day for a blog tour! Today I have The Guardian's Wildchild on the blog. I will be posting a review and a guest post from the amazing author Feather Stone. So I hope you stick around to check out all the amazing posts for the day.

Monday, May 14, 2012

I'm really excited! Tonight I will be chatting with the author Lisa Bilbrey! Make sure you are around at 8 PM EST to chat with us and ask her some of your own questions!!!

Below you will find Lisa's bio and all links you will need for the show. Then after the show you will be able to find the recording widget where you will be able to listen to the show after its already finished, just in case you miss it!

Author Bio

Lisa Bilbrey is a mom of three and has been married to her high school sweetheart since 1996.
Finding a love in the written word, she started writing as a way to express herself. From the first word she wrote, she'd found her heart and soul. Always willing to learn, she's spends much of her time trying to improve as a storyteller. She's been blessed to find Michele Richard and Laura Braley, both of whom she spends hours every day writing with.

Update:

This show was amazing, I hope you all listened in and if you didn't that is okay because you can now. Below is the widget where you can listen to the whole thing. Sorry in advance for the tech difficulties in the beginning!

Building a believable fictional world can sometimes be easy, other times hard, and occasionally frustrating. It can also be immense fun. You get to build your own world! How brilliant is that? Years ago I imagined that setting a story in a completely made up world was a lot more preferable to setting something in modern times where I'd have to do hours and hours of painstaking research. I was wrong. Creating your own world means exactly that; you have to create it from scratch. You're a god of your own realm. Sure there are elements that you need, a template if you will. Dystopians are usually built from the ruins of the planet we know now, albeit in twisted, almost unrecognizable forms. Often the most fun is guessing what went wrong to turn this new world sour or discovering familiar things that have been distorted. An example is from my novel The Fall, set in a dystopian future where actual gods have destroyed the planet through their own fighting. The main character, Ben Casper, lives in a place called The Glass Palace. You find out that this was in fact a former shopping mall. Anyone who lives in England, or Yorkshire anyway, will probably recognize which shopping mall it is. I won't say which in case I get sued or anything, but it's pretty obvious (if you live in Yorkshire, anyway. If not then it'll forever be a mystery).

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the world’s population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. The threat of the partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to the disease in over a decade. Humanity’s time is running out.

When sixteen-year-old Kira learns of her best friend’s pregnancy, she’s determined to find a solution. Then one rash decision forces Kira to flee her community with the unlikeliest of allies. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that the survival of both humans and partials rests in her attempts to answer questions of the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Combining the fast-paced action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Battlestar Galactica, Partials is a pulse-pounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question—one where our sense of humanity is both our greatest liability, and our only hope for survival.